Sinister III
by Taliyatwo
Summary: The Richards family moves into a new home after the death of their father and the soon arrival of another child. Little do they know, their house was the site of a murder caused by a deity that will cause some trouble for them.
1. Chapter 1

Sunlight illuminated the floor as the girl entered the room for the first time. Small specks of dust were sparkling in the air as her body motion made it move. The room hadn't had another human being in it for a few years, nobody dared to enter it because of the atmosphere it gave. Yet, now this family was bold enough to enter it despite warnings they had received from many people. She hummed quietly, pointing one toe as her foot made a half circle shape on the floor. A small smile appeared across her face as she took a small skipping step, noticing the grip her sock was getting. The hard wood was exactly something she wanted.

"Oh my god, would you look at that." Her mother entered the room with wonder in her voice. "The design is exactly as we imagined, it's perfect!" She came closer to Brandy, embracing her small body with her warm one. "What do you think hun?" Her long fingers gestured towards the whole room. Overall, it was pretty spacious, compared to the last house this one could work more.

Brandy took little delicate steps with a purpose to them as her eyes studied the room. "I like it." A soft voice flowed from her mouth as her eyes darted back and forth. Her mother came closer again, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders to encourage her. "That's what I thought." Her mother didn't try to hide the pride placed on her face." I was thinking we could put the mirrors all around on these walls, they're very smooth and it shouldn't be difficult to find a good size. Brandy moved up one side of her lips in agreement. "Oh!" Her mother exclaimed, placing a hand on her protruding belly. "I think the baby agrees too." She made small circles on her belly to calm the baby. A small giggle escaped Brandy's mouth while making rare eye contact with her mother. "Now how about we help the rest of your brothers and sister with their things?" Brandy nodded rapidly, placing the dance box on the floor so she could carry more things. She did her special dash, which was a mixture of skips and hops, out of the room to the moving truck. As her foot steps echoed away, the smile on her mother's face seemed to slip off it. She sighed with a small mutter to herself. "What have I done? What have you done Donna?" Talking to herself wasn't a solution, but it made her feel better when there was no one else to talk to. She didn't want to move, but the nursing job here was a good opportunity for the family and with a new child coming, there was no room in the old house. Besides, bad memories from that house didn't help with their family life, things were stressed and restarting was the best way to fix it all.

"Mom!" She glanced to the floor, completely unaware of the yell as she explored her thoughts. There was a want for something more, for something to fix the mess they were in. She gasped quietly as her son hit the wall to get her attention. "Mom! Matthew threw the ball on the top shelf and I can't reach it!" Riley exclaimed loudly. He ruffled his messy blonde hair nervously as he gawked at her.

"Did you break anything?" She asked suspiciously. She could tell he was guilty by the look in his eyes. Riley shuffled his feet side to side. He shook his head quickly with hands hidden behind his back. Sneakily, he fluttered his eyes up at her in hopes she would drop it, but was only greeted with stern expression . "Just a small light, we didn't mean to." She nodded as she considered how bad the damage really was. Her older daughter appeared from around the corner, holding two stacked boxes to move to her own room. "Carly, will you help your brother get the baseball? " she asked as a quick solution. The light wasn't a big deal, they could buy one later when they traveled to the department store. Carly let out a dramatic bit of air from her in nose, looking to the ten year old who seemed hopeful. "Fine, where is it?" She answered reluctantly, out of all the kids, she seemed most upset about the move. Especially since she had to leave her high school full of friends made all the way from elementary. When her mother mentioned the plan to move, Carly argued more than all the other kids. She threatened to run away and even mentioned killing herself. Something Donna found over dramatic since this house was a few hours away from the old one. It took almost two weeks to finally convince the girl the move was the only choice they had.

"Living room, top shelf." Donna answered as the teen took no time to think once she received her answer. Carly stalked to the other room, leaving her brother little time to gather himself. "Oh and take your toys to the back Riley, we don't need to be breaking more expensive things." Riley nodded as he moved to follow his sister. Donna gave one more inspecting stare of the room before she moved back to get more boxes into the house.

Brandy's POV

We finally finished getting the boxes into the house around dinner time. Each of us were set up with our own rooms. While the boxes weren't completely unpacked, our bed were set up so we could sleep for school tomorrow. Yes, we were going straight to school after the move. Nobody wanted to, but mom insisted the more we missed the more we would be behind. She didn't want us taking classes all the way into the summer. I had just started middle school and it was difficult for me. I was small compared to all the middle schoolers and the joke of me being in the wrong school had gotten old. It was hard for people to believe I was a seventh grader.

The one thing I had to look forward to was the fact my school would be a arts school. My mother put a huge emphasis on us doing things we liked and she thought that this school would help me more than the other one did. I wasn't stupid, I did fairly well in school. Subjects such as English and math I got off with B grades which weren't that bad. It was the fact I had more of an interest for dance than I did for school. I loved ballet the most, especially since I was on pointe earlier than most kids my age. My dance teacher was the one who mentioned the school to my mother. Because of her I was finally enrolled in a school that was a dream come true.

With the dance room my mom promised, I wanted to practice in it tonight so I was ready for auditions tomorrow. I was nervous, but confident in making it. I didn't consider myself a terrible dancer since I was coordinated in my movement. And the dancing always felt like a small escape from the real world while I did it.

"Pizza's here!" Carly yelled loudly, her voice held a small aggressive tone to it. As if she didn't want anyone to take more time to come downstairs. Carly was the oldest out of all of us and the only other girl in my the family. I guess most people would think we were close, but we just weren't. Carly had a personality distinctively different from mine. Unlike me, she was popular in school, she ran on the track team and had no problem with talking to people. Sometimes I found her voice to sound obnoxious, but even mentioning something like that to her would only bring her wrath upon me. In the recent year, she acted a lot different from her usual self, I guess more gloomily because of the hard turn all our lives had taken. Mom told me it was because she didn't want to move, but I knew it stemmed from something way before that.

"Brandy get down here now!" Carly yelled as she increased the aggressiveness to her tone. Quickly I ran down the stairs, I was in no position to receive the rath of my sister. The pizza was ready and mom wouldn't let anyone eat until we were all seated.

The smell of melted cheese entered my nose, causing my stomach to rumble in reply. I slipped into the metal fold up chair crossing my arms to fit in. Carly spoke to herself, "Finally." It was as if she thought I couldn't hear her even though it was loud and clear to my ears. I slipped my fingers into the crust of the greasy slice as I took my first bite. We ate silently just as we had been doing for months. We didn't talk, but ate as a family like our mother wanted to. It was better this way since most of the time we tried to avoid each other all day. "Are you guys excited for school tomorrow?" Quickly that ice was broken by my mother who had clear intentions to change the quality of our family life. Nobody replied as we each quietly bit into our cheesy pizza, hoping it would be dropped.

She glanced at us expectantly, which was a sign nobody would leave the table until she received a reply from all of us. I nodded, giving her a smile. I was excited and I knew the school was of high quality. "I heard our school has a sick playground!" Matthew exclaimed excitedly with hands thrown into the air. "And, and I have recess at the same time as Riley so we can play together."

"Wow, but remember you guys still have to go to your classes, I don't need a call from the school saying one of you is missing from school." Mother explained carefully. Matthew and Riley were the youngest, for now until the baby was born and they had the most mischievous personalities out of all of us. They got in trouble so easily for small things, it was a good thing that they only did small things.

"What about you Carly? "Mom asked my sister who was still busy into her pizza. Carly looked up, wide eyed as she was hoping Mother would ignore her even though it was never the case.

Carly looked at all of us with eyes asking to change the subject before realizing she was trapped in this and had to give a reply. Her words were simply and rude. "No." She didn't try to explained herself as she went directly back to her pizza. Mom bit her lip at my sister's words. She was trying to fix things and Carly had no intention to help her at all. I inhaled sharply as I recognized the expression on my mother's face, mixed with anger. A fight was about to go down and we had only been in the house for five hours.

"Why?" My mother's voice was very authoritative. She was questioning my sister and she knew very clearly where these words would take her. Carly wasn't timid at all and she would take no time to argue against mom.

Carly dropped the pizza on her plate, practically glowering at mom's fake worried expression. "I think we al know why we really moved, you're just trying to avoid the memories we had at the other home, it hurts you doesn't it?" She sneered angrily, directing her words to something hard in front of everyone. "Carly, don't you dare say that. Drop this right now." My mother suddenly becoming very dark at my sister's words, Carly was intentionally trying to hurt her. "It hurts you to know that he walked around that house with you, made so many fond memories."

"Stop it Carly! Your siblings don't need to hear this right now!" Mother leaned across the table, warning my sister.

With those words I felt myself snap, why were they trying to hide this from us when we knew everything? "Shut up!" I screamed, slamming my fist on the table. Everyone stared at me with shocked eyes, Carly included. "I know dad's dead, we all do. There's no need to act like it never happened, how are we going to deal with our problems if we avoid this?" I spoke very quickly, paying no attention to the harshness of my words. I breathed deeply for a few seconds as everyone sat in the silence. I stood up, making my intentions clear about today. "I'm going to bed, goodnight."

Normal POV

Brandy shifted in her bed with an uncomfortable expression. After dinner something felt wrong. Her room felt wrong, before it was new and exciting, but now she could feel an unsettling feeling. Her eyes snapped open as she looked towards the source of her discomfort. A pale girl with wild curly hair, and a ruffled apron stood at the end of her bed. The girl who was younger than her seemed perplexed, yet pleasantly surprised. After a minute the girl finally spoke. "What are you doing in my room?"


	2. Chapter 2

Carly's POV

A small tap on my shoulder brought me to consciousness in an instant. I was a very light sleeper, even a whisper could wake me up. As my eyes lazily rolled to the side to look at the tapper, I was surprised to see Brandy's terrified little face. She came closer to me, begging for attention. "I can't sleep, can I sleep in your bed?" Despite how annoying she was to me, I couldn't say no. My mother didn't allow anyone to sleep with her after my dad died. She said it was better if she was alone. I opened up the covers as a gesture for her. She smiled very slightly, sliding into my side. For a second, I didn't know what to do, I was never a very touchy person. I could talk all the time, but the moment someone hugged me, things got awkward. She faced away from me towards the door as if she was watching something.

"Was it a bad dream?" I asked carefully. Brandy wasn't one to share much. She liked to keep to herself and that's what made things frustrating for me. How was I supposed to know if something offended her. She said nothing if it did. Sometimes, I genuinely hated her for that. She could tell too, it was the reason she tried to avoid me sometimes. I couldn't help it, controlling emotions was impossible for me. She on the other hand could easily control her own and read how others felt.

Brandy seemed to hesitate before shaking her head. "I just felt scared." She replied softly.

"Why?" I felt confused, normally she had a reason for things like this. She explained things when nobody else understood them. "I don't know." Brandy whispered. I opened my mouth to ask more questions only to feel my tongue stutter as I didn't know what to say to her. She wasn't giving me a lot to go on. I didn't know why she was so scared right now. Nobody ever felt scared of nothing and she was making it clear she wasn't going to tell me what the thing was.

I closed my eyes to get back to sleep. We both needed sleep since school was starting tomorrow. I shivered slightly as Brandy tugged on the blanket to cover her face. This house was pretty cold, hopefully we would get that repaired within the week. I began to drift off, exhaustion from the move filling my body. Despite that, I could feel Brandy shifting uncomfortably in the bed. My eyes opened as I was about to reprimand her for doing that. Suddenly, with no warning. She turned towards me, her eyes wider than ever. She wrapped her arms around me then burrowed her head into my chest. I looked towards the doorway seeing nothing. What was scaring her so badly? She shook nonstop, something was wrong and I couldn't figure it out.

I hesitated, then gave her head a few strokes to calm her. She inhaled deeply, burrowing her head more. Slowly, I wrapped my arms around her to warm her up. At that motion, within seconds she began to relax. "You're okay I promise, I won't let anything happen." I hear a relieved exhaled escape her mouth at my words. With that, I closed my eyes as darkness took over for both of us.

Normal POV

All the kids sat in the car. Matthew and Riley were bickering as they both tugged on their baseball bat. They were trying to decide who would be the first pitcher. Matthew finally yanked the bat to his side, swinging in excitement. Carly shot out her hand to stop the bat as it nearly rammed into the window. "Jesus Christ guys, it's not like we're in a car right now." Carly commented with rolled eyes. "Do that again and you boys won't be playing baseball during recess." Their mom added. "I don't need to be paying for more things other than the house and school."

Brandy sat in the back with her elbow balanced against the cup holders to observe the scenery going past outside. She liked to watch things move past them as if the trees were the ones moving and not the car. She could pick out branches rustling as the car's speed made a breeze. They seemed to wave at her, welcoming her on the way to school.

Carly looked at her phone, smiling as a message appeared. Brandy peeked over to see who it was. "Andy, who's Andy?" She said curiously, "why does he want to see you right now?" All her words were innocent. She had no intention to cause any trouble. Riley snorted. "You mean the Andy she made out with the week before we left?" Matthew laughed along at his brother's words. "Yeah, I believe she called him a hottie."

"I don't like Andy! He's a friend." Carly spat out quickly. A flush of red appear on her cheeks as she spoke. Carly remember that event and she considered it a mistake since her and Andy were friends all the way from middle school. "He just wants to visit us next weekend since his school has a break that week." She stumbled on her words, becoming more embarrassed by the second.

"That sounds great, but we'll discuss it later today." Their mother said as she glanced back quickly to make sure all the kids were okay. Carly glared at her words, she knew exactly what they meant. "Mom, when you say we'll discuss it you mean that it's a no." She began to leak anger as she spoke. "I need to see Andy, he's my best friend!"

"Carly, we'll discuss it at home." Donna said firmly. She was still tired from the move and didn't want to argue with Carly again like last night. She felt that a visitor wasn't good at that time, especially since they still wouldn't be settled in by that time, it would take longer.

The car rolled into the parking lot, coming to a slow stop. Donna pushed the button to slide open the door. She turned to smile at her boys. "Have a good day at school and remember, don't break anything."

Matthew's POV

"This is gonna be a fast one!" Riley yelled as he got into position to throw the ball. I held the bat, posed for the ball to come my way. He smoothly moved the ball forward, releasing it. I swung the bat quickly, feeling it come into contact with the ball as it let out a loud clapping sound. Within seconds the ball flew into the air, flying far past Riley. "Nice! You got an inch farther than last time." Riley said mockingly.

"Farther than you could ever get." I retorted back. Compared to me, he still had a lot of work to do. I rested the bat against my shoulder, walking up to him confidently. "Besides, I'm older so I'm better."

Riley mocked my words with folded arms. "I doubt it, besides I'll be the best baseball player in the world when I grow up!" Even though he was only a year younger than me his words seemed childish to my ear. I snorted in reply as he seemed confident about it.

"Right and I'll be even better than you still." I said to tease him.

"Nuuh, I said I'm going to be the best."Riley argued. I laughed lightly then tackled him to the ground, ruffling his dirty blonde hair as he struggled. "Come on looser, just admit it. I'm the best."

He tried to kick out his legs, flailing as I pinned him down. I pushed his chest down so he was pinned with no escape. "Say mercy and I'll let go."I tightened my grip ever so slowly that he wouldn't notice it. Shaking his head, he tried to push against me again. Compared to me, he had no upper body strength, it was like a bug fighting an elephant. He stood no chance. But, he was very stubborn and persistent. He would fight until he couldn't stand it. Finally, after what seemed like forever he yelled. "Mercy! Mercy!"

He rolled away as I released his body. Stretching out his arms that were previously bent at awkward angles. Her glared with his words. "I'm not weak at all, I'm stronger than Brandy."

"Brandy is a girl, there's a big difference." I said as he brushed the dust off his body. "She has a different body and everything."

"Is that why she acts weird all the time?" Riley said curiously, he gave a small tilt with his head to add to the question.

I chuckled, Riley always seemed to ask the best questions. "No, she's just acting the way Brandy acts. If you think about it, it's probably not weird to her." Riley thought about my words as he made clicking sounds with his tongue. "So she's just being normal the way she knows how to be normal?"

"Exactly."

Normal POV

Brandy sat up in her bed as the clock turned to 12, looking at the end of her bed expectantly. She was waiting for the thing that scared her last night. After thinking about it the whole day, her fear was less than it was before, more than anything she was curious to find out what exactly it was. "Come on I know you're here." She called out to the blank spot. "You said you would come back tomorrow."

At that moment, the wild haired girl appeared, giggling as some moonlight illuminated her. Being able to see more clearly, Brandy considered the skin to be more of an ashy color. "Hi Gloria, I was thinking about you all day." Brandy spoke with excitement, for once she had a secret and nobody else knew about it. She felt herself bounce in the bed, making a small creak as her body motion triggered the rusty springs.

Gloria put a finger to her lips in a shushing motion before whispering more quietly than Brandy did. "As have I, I love making new friends all the time."

Brandy smiled as she nodded rapidly. She wanted to play all night with Gloria, the other girl was very energetic and seemed to want to be her friend. "I made something for you and I want you to see it." Gloria said earnestly, "but it's up in the attic and it's too heavy for me to bring down." Brandy looked up at the ceiling with a wondrous expression. "We have an attic?" She whispered. "Mom's just been putting things in the basement."

"Yes there's an attic, but it's hidden and you can't tell anyone about it." Gloria replied with a sly grin. "It's my favorite place to be in this house."

Brandy frowned. "Wait, how do know about the attic?" She was confused as she had just met this girl, yet she was so knowledgeable about things in the house. "Because, I used to live here silly." Gloria used her cold hand to pat Brandy's back. "I know every hiding spot in this house."

"Now come on, we have to be quick before your mom comes home, she's working the night shift right?" Gloria said as she held her hand out to the other girl. Brandy nodded as she stood up to follow. It was only her mother's first day of work at the hospital, yet the bosses scheduled her to be there for the night shift. She promised to get them off so she could spend time with the children, but they all knew that was never happening. Gloria lead her through the hallway to a vent. Quickly she pulled off the cover coming to her knees to crawl. "The entrance is this way, stay with me because it's dark." Brandy kneeled down as she came into the crawl space with Gloria, within seconds, Gloria tapped her foot back. "Okay, the ladder is right in front of us. Just keep following me and you won't get lost."

"Okay." Brandy whispered back. She reached forward, grabbing step by step as she went higher and higher until she came to a leveled floor in front of her. Perched on a stack of books seemed to be a old camera, ready to play as there was a white sheet pinned up on the back wall. "Come on." Gloria ushered her forward. "I made a movie for you to watch, I think you'll like it."

"But my mom." Brandy spoke cautiously as she didn't want to get in trouble for being out of bed.

"Don't worry, it's a very short movie, you'll be back in bed before anyone notices." Gloria reassured her, she seemed eager for Brandy to watch the film. Brandy twisted her lips then nodded as she sat down by the side of the book pile. "Okay, play it."

Gloria grinned as she pressed the switch and the film began to spin. Clicking sounds came out as an image projected out onto the white sheet. Brandy watched with confusion as it was a family cooking dinner. They prepared side by side, making things to perfection. An burly man laughed as he pulled a nicely roasted turkey from the oven, holding it in front of all the others to smell with delight. "Is this a Thanksgiving dinner?" Brandy asked curiously. She recognized some foods that were being placed on the dinning table. "Yes, and we aren't even to the best part yet." Gloria smiled kind of snidely, something Brandy didn't understand as there was no importance to this dinner for her. The camera seemed to turn towards Gloria in the film, she held a wooden spoon firmly as an older woman behind her helped her mix some punch. She seemed to have a careful expression on her face despite the assistance she was receiving from the person who was probably her mother.

Suddenly it cut to another scene, the family was at the dinner table with Gloria out of view. They all held up glasses of punch, cheering as they reached forward to clink them together. The burly man held up his fingers, counting from one to three, at three every single person pulled the glass to their lips. Some people completely gulped down the punch while other took a few sips.

They smiled at each other as they moved to their food. Gloria's mother began to cough as her eyes looked towards the camera screen. Suddenly a nasty cough escaped her mouth, splattering blood into her mashed potatoes. Her eyes rolled back as her body began to shake out of her control. Her head then dropped into her own shoulder as she went limp. The other family member stared in shock, then a chorus of coughs began to escape from their mouths. Within seconds almost everyone dropped down just like Gloria's mother had while only one managed to stand. A teenage boy stumbled as he moved to the phone to call for help. He got five steps before collapsing. The camera came closer to his face as the expression in his eyes became glassy. Then it was over.

As the film cut off, it was clear Brandy was shaking violently with fear. The film had taken a twist she didn't expect.


	3. Chapter 3

Brandy's POV

I sat down with the scene from yesterday playing over and over again in my head. Right now I was still trying to make sense of it and the logic I was coming up with didn't help. Last night I was up till 3 AM, trying to decide if it was better to fake sick so I could recuperate. But quickly I knew Mom wouldn't buy it, we had just moved and being sick could mean I didn't want to go to school. To be honest I loved the school already, the teachers were attentive and the students were kind to me. I really appreciated the warm welcome and now there were already more pressing matters than school.

Mindlessly, I dug my fingers into the piece of toast on my plate. It made crunching sounds as my fingers entered, scattering crumbs all over the table. I couldn't believe that video, why would Gloria film the death of her family? They didn't seem like that bad of people from the video, if fact they seemed to be very happy. Something that was rare in this time and age since families seemed to fall with people giving in to their dark desires. I didn't understand it? Maybe she did it because somebody forced her to do it? It seemed like the most solid answer because nobody in their right mind would film their family dying. If anything, a film like that would create nightmares. Especially for a kid like Gloria considering she was only 9. Gloria didn't act like she was 9 sometimes, there were times were she talked in a more mature way. I actually admired it sometimes because she seemed so calm in certain situations where as I couldn't hide my horror at things.

I wasn't paying attention to the toast becoming a mess on my plate. I wasn't hungry anyway so it didn't seem important to me.

"Brandy?" My mom said. In my head it was muffled, I didn't hear it as figuring out the video was very important to me. I wanted to know why Gloria did it. I wanted to know if she felt guilty about it or if she truly thought the video was something good because she seemed to present it to me that way. If that was the case, I had stumbled on something truly terrifying. If I could I would back out it. Hopefully Gloria would leave me alone if I decided that.

"Brandy honey." I shot up as my mom placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. My gasp was a small shudder, barely noticeable. She placed her other hand on my toast wrecking one, pulling it back gently. "Honey how are you going to eat your toast now? Look at it." She pointed out the pile of crumbs on my plate, not resembling the square shape it once was.

I shrugged, I didn't want the toast and I had no intention to eat it at all.

She frowned at my blank expression, I was trying to figure out what to think right now. I didn't know how to handle things right now.

Softly, she brushed the crumbs off my hands with a napkin. "Are you okay? You seem distant." She commented. Silently, Carly, Matthew, and Riley kept their heads down. They wanted no part of this conversation.

Once again I shrugged because I didn't know how else to reply. Telling my mom about the video would make her think I was crazy or over imaginative and I didn't need that right now. I needed to be taken seriously.

"Is it something that happened at school yesterday?" She asked me in her careful voice. At that moment, I kept my eyes from rolling. She thought she was treading on risky waters when it really wasn't that complicated. The school wasn't the problem and I couldn't believe she would assume something like that. "No, school was great." I turned to her, giving a genuine smile. That would comfort her, especially considering how dazed I appeared a few minutes ago. She smiled back at me, happy to receive a response in actual words. I usually used actions to reply because they were easier to do. Finding the right words were complicated. "Did anything good happen?"

I nodded, thinking about the school day instead of the video. "For half of the day I danced then the other half I did school stuff." I swallowed as the tone in my voice turned to excitement. "We have a recital in a month and the teacher said I could be in it as long as I keep my hard work up. She told me I'm a hard worker." I could feel a grin slide over my teeth, it was easy for me to be joyful about this.

"Really?" My mom appear surprised. "In excited to see you perform honey, I'm sure it will be amazing."

Normal POV

"Bye Jessica thanks for the ride!" Carly called out at the open window of her new friend's car. Jessica and her started talking today and Jessica kindly offered to take her home. All the juniors at school were let out early after taking the ACT, a hard test that decided what colleges would accept them, so basically their entire future. Personally, Carly had already given up on getting a good score. It was always her dad who helped her with homework and now that he was gone. There was nobody to make sure she got good grades. Her mother was too busy with other things to help so Carly decided to not study at all. She thought she was screwed and almost all the questions on that test were confusing. While she wanted to have a good future she knew that was not possible for awhile especially with the family life she had. At times, she felt hopeless.

She entered through the garage, casually punching in the code. The door opened very slowly, taking its time. Carly waited impatiently with her right foot tapping the ground at a quick beat until the garage door was completely up. As soon as she reached the smaller door and opened it she threw her backpack onto the nearby couch. "All by myself, I got the house all to myself." At this time she could do anything, she could throw a house party if she wanted. Especially considering her mother wouldn't be home till 2 in the morning. Really though, she wouldn't do that because parties before the nighttime were pretty lame. Who wants to come to a day party when all the fun happens at night? At least, that was her reasoning. She didn't know what the other students thought about parties.

She slipped her laptop from the desk top then settled in comfortably by her backpack on the couch. Curling her legs to her left side, she relaxed against the armrest as she started to pull herself into the mindless internet. It was really parts of the internet that would make her laugh, but also parts she didn't have to think about, they were just there for amusement. As she scrolled through the pages she lost track of time. Simply going through things because it felt good.

A loud thump echoed from down the hallway, startling her into the real world. Curiously, she looked down to see what it was. Were there already rats in the house? More quietly, the same thump sounded. She came to her feet to investigate what it was.

As she came closer down the hallway, the sound seemed to get faster and quieter, coming to its fastest beat as she stood in front of a vent. She kneeled down, peeking into the vent to see what creature was trapped, but was met with pitch black. It appeared almost impossible for anything to be there as the black looked like a wall.

She wiggled the vent cover, feeling it come loose in her hands so she could pull it off. Quickly, shivers ran down her back. What if somebody was hiding in here? While that was unlikely since their house was locked the idea still gave her the creeps. An unknown person in their house was horrifying.

Quietly in the hallway, a tall dark figure watched her go in. Yes, she would discover something hiding in there, but things were already too late because everything was in motion. The the dark figure reached towards her then disappeared.

She shook off the idea then reached into the vent, finding it went farther out. Considering how big the vent was she could probably fit, it was perfectly safe.

Carly crawled in using her hands as her guide by patting forward to feel what was on the vent walls. It felt bare for the most part with a lot of dust all over. She began coughing as she reached forward to touch a box object. She patted it more roughly a few times, feeling perplexed about why it was there? Did the previous owners leave it? Or was it there since the house was built? Either way, there was no info about the previous owners. The only thing the retailer told them was that the owners died in the house. There was no info for how it happened or why, but Carly assumed it was probably an accident. It wasn't like any big murder plot or otherwise the house wouldn't sell.

She dragged it out into the hallway, quick to open the box and see what she would find. In the box sat a camera, a very old one. As far as she recalled from her film class last year it was an 8mm camera which was strange. The house wasn't that old to have this in here. Next to the camera sat some cases of film. Each nearly identical to each other except for the names. She pulled the first one out, reading the title out loud to herself. "Rooftop Garden '97?" She frowned, all the titles appeared to be some sort of family video thing. She was curious to see what was on them as it probably showed the previous owners doing everyday things.

She wanted to see it and there was really only one way to do that.

Carly began to set up using the information she learned from her film class. She pulled a sheet off her bed, hanging it with some thumb tacks from her school supplies. She moved a coffee table to a spot near the center of the room to project a somewhat clear image from the camera. Then she placed the camera down, getting it into a good position. Carefully, she pulled the film from its case. Getting it set up so she could watch the entire video.

When that was all done, she pulled the blinds closed so it was dimmer then pushed the switch to start the film. As the image popped up. The camera seemed to be catching some scenery that was pretty recognizable. It passed by the Statue of Liberty hinting to her this was from New York City. It moved across the horizon, passing the sun and many skyscrapers before pausing to focus on the rooftop. There was a whole garden set up with healthy brown dirt. A mother and her two little girls were tending to a cluster of already grown tomatoes. They dropped the ripe ones into a metal bowl. One of the girls giggled as she stuffed a mini red tomato into her little mouth. Bliss filled her expression as the taste filled her mouth. Her mother tickled her side then moved back to the tomatoes.

An older man walked down the dirt digging small holes as his son followed behind him placing seeds in the empty spots then filling the holes back up. The man pushed some sweat off his grey brow then took a sip of water from the bottle he was carrying. One of the little girls hopped up, running towards him.

Like that, within a snap the scene changed. It was very dark, still the roof top, but now it was nighttime. The camera was focused on the ground, it came up slowly to the edge of the roof where there were four people. Both of the little girls and the parents laying on their sides, dangerously close to the edge. Carly's eyes widened as she straightened up. Each family member had their ankles tied together and their wrists bound behind their back. There was a strip of fabric blinding their eyes and another piece gagging their mouth so they would stay silent.

"No." Carly whispered in horror.

The camera came close to each person as they were pushed off the edge, falling to their deaths. Carly covered her mouth as the camera peered over the edge at the bodies lying broken on the ground. As a group of people began to gather the film ended.

Carly flinched as the door swung open and Brandy jumped onto her lap. The little girl smiled, it was obvious she had a good day at school especially since those days were rare.

Brandy glanced at the camera then hugged Carly. She became stiff as she looked at the doorway to see Gloria standing there. Just as she was about to ask Carly where she found the horrible camera. Gloria held up one finger to her lips to let Brandy know what happened was supposed to be a secret. She stayed silent, deciding to be in the moment of a great hug.

Donna's POV

I shuffled through my card deck, today I didn't have the night shift, but with the stress of the move I thought I deserved some fun that didn't happen often. So I told the kids I was working late. The game I was playing was getting difficult, I was so close to winning, yet nobody really knew what the outcome would be. You had to be smart for things like this or you would loose all your money in one stupid round.

I sighed as I began to gather my courage, I was going to do this and destroy these people. Quickly I pulled the shot glass to my lips, gulping down the strong whiskey. I winced then pushed all my poker chips forward, it was time. I was going to beat them all "Alright, I'm all in."

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Hi guys! This is Taliyatwo I just thought I would take some time to leave a note. Thank you for reading my story I really appreciate it and thank you to those few reviewers. Anymore reviews are welcome. I came up with this idea after watching Sinister 2 and I thought it would be a great story. Tell me what you think about this chapter and thanks for reading, see you the next chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

Normal POV

Carly woke up at the sound of a swinging door. The person who did it seemed to have no purpose, it was a careless action. Slowly glancing at her clock, she groaned it was only 5:30 AM which meant they had another hour to sleep. Yet, she was curious to see why her mother was home this late. Very carefully, as not to disturb the position of the covers on her little sister. She slipped out of the bed onto the cooling wood, smoothly, her arms stretched out to the sides as a yawn sounded to signal her exhaustion.

Swiftly her legs moved down the hallway until she came to her mother's room to see her completely collapsed on the top of the bed. Her mouth hung open with small snores traveling out into the open space of the room. Carly sighed at her mother's clothing from yesterday, the back had an unidentifiable stain. The smell of cigarettes was overwhelming as she neared her. Donna shifted her position, moaning. "Mom?" Carly asked as quietly as possible. "Mom, are you okay?"

She looked towards her mother's night stand, keys messily thrown on, her pills scattered by clumsy movement, and a large stack of cash. Carly paused her eyes on the cash as she realized the significance of them and what it meant. From the smell, her mother had probably come home from a bar which meant the stack was her winnings from gambling. This wasn't good at all, especially since gambling was an addiction her mother hadn't touched for roughly 20 years. And now it seemed the women was already spiraling down quickly. For christ's sake, the woman was pregnant. It was strange to think she wasn't worried about the baby at all in this event. Then again, maybe she forgot that the baby was there. She tended to do that a lot lately. "Mom, we've got school in a few hours. Who's going to take us?" Her mother opened her mouth with a strong alcohol smell wafering out into Carly's nose causing her to wrinkle it in disgust. "No." Donna replied as she turned away from her daughter, leaving the girl very confused. Carly angrily folded her arms, giving a very sour expression to her mother. "Damn it mom! Who's going to take us to school?" At that point she didn't care if the kids heard her. Her mother was being ridiculous and this was not responsible behavior. It was frustrating just to be in the same room.

Quickly, Carly saw she was not going to get a reply. She left the room, taking all her self control to not stomp down the hallway as she entered her own room to wake her sister. The only other person who could drive in the house was herself and while she wasn't the best driver, it was the only option they had. Missing school already would set a reputation she didn't need. They all needed to make friends at school and if people expected one thing of them it could all turn to something worse.

"Brandy, Brandy. It's time to get up." She shook her sister's unconscious body, receiving a little frown from the girl's face. Brandy slowly opened her eyes, drowsily staring at her sister. "Already? It's only..." Her eyes wandered to the clock. "It's only 5:42." She let out a shaky groan, rolling her body into a sitting position. "Mom says we can sleep until 6:30." Brandy smacked her lips together as she laid down again.

"Mom's not feeling well so I'm taking us to school. I want to leave early just in case." Carly spoke quickly, hoping to not startle her sister. Brandy opened one eye lifting an eyebrow. Her chest rose softly in response. "Is it because she worked late last night?"

Carly twisted her lips, she didn't want to tell Brandy their mother was doing other things that night. It would only make the girl more concerned for her mother than she needed to be. "Can I see her?" Within an instant, Carly shook her head almost violently. Brandy didn't need to see their mother like that. "I think it's best we don't disturb her so she can rest." Brandy assessed her words, trying to decide how worthy they were. She was eager to see her mother, especially after not seeing her after school. She liked the time they spent together and now that they moved, it wasn't often because their mom was always busy. "Fine." Brandy shrugged at her words. "Will you tell her I hope she feels better?"

Carly let out a half sigh with her head moving up and down. She suddenly changed tones as a tactic to get her sister's mind off the subject. Quickly she scooped the girl off the bed receiving small giggles. Within seconds the expression on her face went blank as it reminded her of the little girl laughing in the video. There was a noticeable shake in her hands as she felt terror from it.

"Are you okay?" Brandy asked softly, she wrapped her arms around her sister's shoulders.

Carly blinked quickly to shake it off, giving her sister a sly smile. "Of course, let's go wake up Matthew and Riley." She then dashed out of the room with Brandy laughing joyfully.

Brandy's POV

I moved my body very precisely, making sure to keep in sinc with all the other dancers. We all rose to our toes crossed in releve, taking very tiny steps to the right. I held my arms in a L position with the back row, making a very subtle flutter motion with the horizontal arm. It took all my focus to keep my body's relaxed appearance despite the fact my inner muscles were tensed. There was little pains shooting up my toes as we had to stay up on pointe. I wished for a break, but our teacher was precise. Everything had to be up to her vision and she only gave three chances. Once you exceeded that she threatened taking you out of the dance all together.

She wasn't a cruel person, she was just passionate about what she was doing. I understood that because I loved dance too. It was what I wanted to do with my life when I was older. Even if it was only a job for younger people, I could teach when I retired because dance was an art for escape and I knew a lot of kids needed that in this cruel world.

I took in a deep breath, feeling perspiration drip down my cheek. I prepped myself taking another deep breath then pulled into a double turn on one leg. Quietly, I landed with grace as everybody slid down to their knees. We all made a wave motion with our arms than slid to the floor, the music lingered for a few seconds, then ended.

Miss Jennifer clapped enthusiastically, jumping up and down. "That was it! That was it! We're one step closer to being prepared for our recital." Her words were cut off as the bell rang, signaling the end of school. She looked at watch clicking her tongue. "Alright alright, time to go. Remember all we rehearsed, you'll need it for Monday. We'll go over things once than move on. Now go home! Have a good day."

Like popcorn, kids came to their feet. Some running and other taking their time. I was one taking my time as I looked over at my friend Katie with a grin. "This is great, I bet it looks really good."

"Of course it does." Katie replied in her high pitch voice. "We've been working on it for weeks, I just can't believe you learned all of it that fast!"

I nodded with a small laugh. "I've just always been able to learn dance moves quickly. I don't think I would consider that a talent." Katie hopped to her feet, running the small distance over to me. "It should be because that was so hard for me." I shook my head in reply as Katie teasing stuck her tongue out.

"Brandy come over here." Miss Jennifer spoke over our voices with her hand ushering me quickly. Katie gave me a look as I hurried over.

Miss Jennifer smiled as she slid a hand over my shoulders. "I just wanted to say you did a really good job today. I understand it must be stressful learning all of this in a few day. I wanted to be sure, is everything alright at home?" She looked at me with interest, she was someone who cared about the wellbeing of her dancers. I hesitated, while it wasn't perfect I thought we were surviving. "Yeah, it's fine." I replied quietly.

"Good, then I want you to keep practicing at home like you've been doing. It looks like it's really coming along." She told me eagerly.

"I will."

She slightly pushed me towards the door, waving as I walked away.

Normal POV

A loud yell sounded from Donna's closed door alerting the three younger ones who were working on homework at dining table. Curiously, all three looked at each other, wondering what it was about. Riley pointed to the door, mouthing words as he and the other two got up to check out the situation. They each placed one ear on the door.

"God Damn it Mom! I don't think you get it, do you!?" Carly yelled angrily, she was still upset about what happened this morning. She held her hands up to shoulder level as she glared at her mother, trying to prove a point.

For a second, Donna held her mouth open, shocked at the tone her daughter was speaking to her in. "It's none of your business Carly, all it was was a little fun time for me. Nothing else! Besides its not like I do this all the time." She was practically seething, digging her fingers into the mattress. "No, no you don't. You didn't do it when I was little, but you know what Dad told me? He said you used to be addicted to this thing and that it was hard to get you to stop once you started. He had to get you intervention!"Carly retorted quickly.

"I can stop, I know I can stop." Donna replied with fake calmness. Truly, after getting a taste of gambling last night that was all she wanted to do. She craved it, but would never admit it was a problem. This time she didn't have her husband to save her.

Carly snorted at her words. "And?" She asked sarcastically. "What if you can't stop? You're supposed to be our mother, our caretaker. What's gonna happen to us when this consumes you?"

Donna placed a hand firmly on her hip. "I told you, I can stop its not that hard."

"Yes it is, what's gonna happen when you lose it, what's gonna happen when suddenly you have a debt you can't pay off? Are you gonna take the boys out of baseball? Because you know how disappointed they'll be." Carly was more aggressive in her tactics, she was trying to convince her mom of how big this really was. She learned about addiction in school, it was something taught big every year and she was very knowledgable about the issue. "Are you going to make Brandy quit dance, take away one of the only things she loves because you won't be able to afford it if things go wrong."

At her words, Brandy who was already in tears covering her mouth as a loud sob echoed out. Donna looked at Carly in silence as she opened the door. Matthew and Riley stood with shocked expressions. Brandy had tears running down her face. Her lip trembled with her sensitive expression as she dashed away to her own room, slamming it shut. Quickly she locked the door than sat on her bed to cover her face as she continued to cry, she didn't understand why Mom was in that much trouble. It didn't make any sense.

Carly and Donna knocked on the door. "Please let me talk to you honey, let me explain." Donna pleaded on the other side. "I promise it's not what you think it is." Brandy shook her head even though she knew neither of them could see that. She didn't want to talk because it would only make things worse. All she wanted was to go back to things being in the shadows and not having to know things like this were happening.

Her shuddering breath came to a stillness as a familiar cold hand touched her shoulder. She looked up to see Gloria, frowning at her expression. "Are you okay? You look down." The other girl commented with confusion as if she didn't understand the pain. Brandy let out a sigh. "No, I'm not."

"Having a bad time?" Gloria asked. Brandy looked to the door as footsteps echoed away, her mother and Carly had given up. Brandy nodded sadly. "I have something to cheer you up then, another friend." Gloria said excitedly. "I promise you'll like him he's really funny."

She looked towards a dark shadow, making an ushering motion with her hand. "Come on out Conner." With that, a boy moved out into her vision. He gave her a smile as she assessed him. His shirt, with a picture of a pirate was wrinkled and covered in dirt. Along with a huge hole on the knee of his jeans. Brandy moved her eyes towards his head, noting the spiked blonde hair and his pale skin. "Hey, what's up? Gloria told me a lot about you." Conner finally spoke. His voice was at a slightly lower pitch. "H-hi." Brandy stuttered.

In the shadows, another figure stood that Brandy didn't notice. In such a short time, Bughuul was already pleased. Things were going well with his plans and each day, this girl became more perfect for the job he would need her to do.

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Hi! This is Taliyatwo again and I wanted to thank the reviewers once again. I really appreciate the support you guys give me. Sorry for not writing for a bit, I got busy with homework and had to focus on that. But, I'll try to keep up with this as much as I can. Any more reviews would be appreciated. I am open to any ideas for what the title of my story should be. The one I have is more temporary so tell me your ideas!


	5. Chapter 5

Normal POV

It had been two weeks since moving and the kids were finally settled in. The house was set up and completely ready for use with all moving boxes completely emptied. After the fight that night, Brandy had become slightly more withdrawn than usually. She was trying to make an effort to talk, but felt uncomfortable. Especially since she had never heard her mother and Carly so angry like that. She wanted to help, but had no clue how to do that. While she knew what the issue was, Carly said it would take a lot of help to get their mother to stop the bad habit. And as Carly predicted, their mother was still gambling. She didn't do it everyday, but it seemed to control her mood when she did. The thrill of winning money made her vicious for more which wasn't the best thing to see.

Yet, with her work schedule and gambling at night it was easy to see she was becoming exhausted from keeping up with it all. Her body was loosing sleep it needed at the right time and it wasn't happy about it. As she came home, dark bags were discernible under her eyes along with a dead look in them. It was sad to watch and all the kids felt helpless.

Brandy stood in the bathroom, scrubbing her teeth at a consistent pace. She counted in her head for each section, determined for them to get a good clean. Carly stood close to the mirror, using one hand to hold open her right eye as the other placed a contact on the pupil. Quickly, she blinked it in, grunting uncomfortably as it didn't set in place for a few seconds. To fix it, she used two fingers to pat it in, sighing as it finally placed on her eye. Brandy spit out the toothpaste into the sink, glancing at a labeled pill container Carly had lying near her stuff. She took a swig of water, swishing it around a few times in her mouth with perfect concentration in that moment. As she released the water to the same place she had the toothpaste, she pointed at the container. "What's that?"

"Uh." Carly looked over as she was pushing in the other contact. "Uh, those are my happy pills."

Brandy lifted an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Would they make me happy?"

"No, you shouldn't be taking them. They're prescribed for me." Carly replied as she finished the contact. Brandy seemed perplexed at it as she hadn't seen them before. Carly noticed it too as she began to explain. "It's like this, your happy levels are like this all the time." She held her hand at an even level making a horizontal line. "And mine is like this, sometimes it drops." With her other hand she started going straight than made it drop to a lower level. "The medicine makes it so mine stay as even as possible."

"They make you happy then?" Brandy questioned. Carly didn't seem happy to her all the time, yet she did better than she had in the previous year. She was different and the different helped her to have more control and be motivated.

Carly nodded as she patted Brandy's head. It was with that motion that Brandy finally understood what was a complex situation. "Why are you putting in your contacts? Aren't you going to bed?" Brandy asked as a follow up, it was almost like she was investigating her sister even though she didn't mean it that way.

"Nope, I've got a study group so I'm gonna be back later tonight." Carly answered as she tried to fix her hair.

Brandy pouted at her words. "Who's going to be there if I get scared at night?" She really didn't get scared anymore, she just thought the notion was comforting to her sister.

"Hey," Carly placed one hand on each of Brandy's cheeks. "I think that you won't be scared tonight, you're a tough girl and you can be brave. Right?" She looked directly at Carly with a smile. "I guess." The was almost a disappointment to her words. "Good night. Sleep well when you get back." Leaning close she hugged her sister than moved towards her bedroom. She wondered what would happen tonight. After watching Connor's video of his family being pushed off a building she was trying hard to understand how Connor was able to do it. His mother and father were both taller than he could imagine being. Than again, he couldn't grow anymore. He was dead, at least that was what he told her. She should have been scared of him and Gloria, but they seemed too friendly to want to cause her harm. They wanted to show her that too, that was why they considered the videos harmless.

Brandy flinched as she closed the door and heard Gloria's voice. "Is it time today?" The girl's voice was filled with curiosity. "Are we going to watch more today?" Flipping around, Brandy frowned at her. Watching the videos was pretty hard and with the situation in the house she didn't feel up to it. The only reason she watched the second one was because she was upset. It helped her to think about something else rather than her mother's loud, angry voice.

"Awww, come on. It's been a long time and the other kids worked on them really hard. Just for you." Gloria appeared insistent. She was serious about what this was and seemed almost in a hurry for Brandy to watch them. Brandy was unsure about it, morally she felt like it was wrong. Watching something like that and saying nothing to others seemed like hiding a problem and hiding a problem this big would cause it to bubble up until it exploded, destroying anything near it.

"Please?" Gloria pleaded with a tone making Brandy feel guilty. She bit her lip, trying to decide if this was all really worth it. Besides, the videos weren't even that long and she could still get sleep despite spending the time to watch them. "I guess, just a little bit though." Brandy was softer this time, adjusting her mood for what was next.

Brandy's POV

As I finished climbing the ladder I noticed everything was already set up. The screen, the camera they knew I would decide to watch it. I was nervous for this. Those videos were creepy and unsettling. I would never get them out of my heads and the other kids knew it too. Sometimes I suspected manipulation even though they told me they wanted to help and make me happy. I could already see Connor seated along with two kids I hadn't seen before. The girl had her red hair pulled into a tight ponytail on her head. It flipped upwards as she looked at me slyly. The other kid had a long sleeve shirt with stripes, his short faux hawk was a sharp contrast to it, almost surprising with his small appearance. Sometimes parents did that with their children because it was unique.

I walked up slowly, awkwardly as I sat next to the new ones. It was strange that they all showed up at random times. Really, it didn't make much sense to me, but I knew they each made a video I would have to watch. It was enough to watch just one video, I didn't know if I could handle more.

Gloria plopped down next to me casually, beaming harder than I thought she could. "Cinthia will go first." She claimed with a gesture towards the girl. At that, the other girl moved to the camera. Starting to set up a reel that was in her hands. She whistled an unfamiliar tune until it was ready, showing uneven teeth, Cinthia pointed towards the screen as the image appeared.

There were multiple maple trees, each appeared strong and healthy to the eye. A few people were carving out holes at the bases of the trees. As the camera focused on an older woman it was easy to see the hole she made was deep. She then pulled out an object that looked kind of like the end of a faucet, placing one end in the hole. "What, what is that?" I asked, my voice trailing off as thick, golden liquid dripped out of the faucet object into a clear pitcher the women held up.

"It a spile. My parents owned a maple syrup company, it wasn't big, but we made enough." Cinthia replied with her eyes glued to the screen. She pulled off her black hat, holding it in both hands. The camera moved to a teen boy tackling another girl his age. They looked to be close to each other. As the camera moved back to the older woman, Cinthia skipped into the screen with her father in tow. She blew a big pink bubble out of her mouth, looking curiously as the syrup starting to fill up nearly to the top. She removed the gum from her mouth, using her hand that was previously holding her father's to dip a finger into the syrup. She placed that finger in her mouth making an mmmm face as the taste completely filled her tongue.

There was a snap as the image changed, each family member was tied upside down with their head pulled back to expose their neck. As the camera panned to each member it was easy to see each shaking, they were terrified because they could tell what was coming. A hand held up a cloth, wiping off the teenage girl's neck even though it probably wasn't needed. Then it brought up a marker, putting a dot on the most vulnerable area. After the hand was quick to pull out a spile and hammer, hitting the hammer onto the spile to embed it tightly into the neck. Then the maple syrup pitcher was held under the spile as red slowly began to drip out into it. The body changed from the shaking to a rapid twitch until the teen stopped moving as the rest of her blood emptied out into the pitcher. The camera moved along, filming each person as the process was done on them. I tried to cover my eyes at it, peeking a few times to see if it was over. Despite the disgust I felt there was also this curiosity there I couldn't deny. Finally, it clicked off giving me relief as I stopped the motions, how I felt was almost unsettling.

I looked nervously at Gloria as she ushered the other boy to go. "I... I think I'm done for now." I said shakily, trying to pushed myself up. Gloria gripped my hand quickly. "Please? Andy worked hard on this. We all did."

Too scared to say no, I settled myself back down as Andy started to place his film into the same area Cinthia had.

As his film turned on, I quickly noticed a board game on the image. New and unopened, quickly the family began to tear it open. They placed all the trash in one pile, ready to already start playing. It zoomed in on a fire flickering in the fireplace. Keeping everyone warm as they all wore blankets over their shoulders. The camera settled into place as Andy walked onto the screen. He grinned at his family, holding up a pair of shiny dice. His mother and father cheered while his little sister reached for the dice. He left the screen again as the camera moved. Each member began to pick out a piece for them to use.

As the scene changed, there was only a dim lamp to light up everything, the fire was barely out with two trails of smoke coming from it. It slowly came to the family members, each duck-tapped to a chair. All of them appear very groggy, as if they had woken up. The camera came close to each, Andy's hands placed a plastic bag on each person's head, sealing it off around the neck.

Each person in reply struggled as their air disappeared in the bag. With the clearness of the bag, it was easy to see each one gasp for air. When it was all done, each face had a permanent look of fear placed in death, made sense since none of them had a way to escape what was coming for them.

As the film turned off, I stared numbly at the screen. No complaints escaping my mouth. With each film I watched, I could feel the horror inside of me disappearing. While I had disgust for this one, I didn't feel much about it. I didn't even flinch. Which made me question, were these films doing something to me? I knew that lack of emotions was never a good thing, but now I almost wished I felt this way when I saw my mom and sister fighting. It would make things easier.

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Thank you for all the follows on this story! I'm working hard on updating when I can which will probably be at least once a week so don't worry if I don't do another update within the week. I hope you guys enjoyed the kill tapes and that you enjoy my characters too. Love you guys! -Taliyatwo


	6. Chapter 6

Normal POV

Brandy coughed softly, shifting in her bed in a pitiful way. She didn't feel that great right now. Her body was sore and cold. After watching the movies last night she had a hard time falling asleep because she was thinking about them. They didn't scare her as expected, but they kept playing. Over and over again in her head. She was trying to understand their importance, but still hasn't found it yet. Why were they there? Why did the other kids make them? Gloria said they were made so she could watch them, but that didn't make any sense at all. She didn't want to believe those kids killed their families just for her.

She turned around to look at her mother who had been rubbing her back in a comforting way. She had mentioned to her how disappointed she was about missing dance class. It was the highlight of her day and now she didn't have enough strength to get up and go to school. She had to sleep so her body would heal. Her mother placed a cool hand on her forehead. "Yep, I'm thinking this is probably a cold honey. So it should only be one or two days before you feel good again."

But, was mother feeling well? That was the question Brandy had as she believed her own mother looked worse than she did at this moment. The unhealthy color of her skin made her wonder if she even went outside anymore? If she even took a moment to contemplate that warmness the sunlight brought. She wanted that so bad for her, but she was scared to ask anything. Mother said she was fine. She said nothing was wrong even though she knew it was false.

Brandy exhaled sharply as she nodded in response, looking directly into her mother's eyes. It was a comforting gesture for her, she just wanted her to feel happy.

Mother was caught off guard for a second by it. She didn't know why Brandy chose that precise moment to look at her, just before she was about to say something. "So, I... I was thinking I have a bring your kid to work day this Saturday, which is in a few days. Would you like to come to that honey? I know it might not be as interesting to you, but we can get ice cream as a treat after?" She asked quickly. She noticed that Brandy was withdrawing after the fight between her and Carly and she wanted to fix her just as Brandy wanted to do the same.

"I guess so?" Brandy answered in a whisper. She was trying to make an effort to help, if mother was happy, she was happy. If there was anything that could be done to help she would do it. Again, they say in silence. Both pleasantly surprised at the other. Her mother had expected to receive a no response and the fact Brandy said yes really meant a lot to her. It was progress to coax her out of the comfort she'll built around her which meant they would go back to normal soon. She could continue what she was doing such as the gambling which was bring extra income to the family.

Carly said it was a sketchy business they didn't need in their home and she understood that. She would just take it very carefully so they didn't jump onto the dangerous path. Besides, she didn't have a problem. She knew she didn't have a problem.

"Are you okay?" Brandy asked as she noticed her mom lost in thought. That was rare here especially since mother was a quick thinker just as Carly was. She didn't contemplate things, but rather followed on instinct. That was why Carly claimed the gambling was such a big issue. It made things so difficult when their mother followed her instincts. The motherly ones were still there, but sometimes the selfish ones took over and that happened more often than she claimed it did. It was almost a regular thing now and everyone was scared there wasn't going to be enough for them all to survive on. They needed money desperately now, and mother wasn't getting the help she needed so they would have that money.

Carly's POV

"Come on Richards don't stop now! You've got one more lap to go!" I heard my coach practically screaming as he noticed my speed slow down the slightest bit. This was a competitive team and he made sure we were constantly doing our bests. I could hear myself panting as it was hard to keep an even breath here. Running wasn't exactly the most simple sport. I had to constantly think so I wasn't going into my comfort zone. That was what coach called it, it was everyone's point where you didn't have to think. It was a relaxing point and he said that our best didn't exactly mean we felt relaxed, if we were relaxed than we weren't running fast enough.

Exhaustion filled my body as I continued to move, trying to push more effort into my legs. It was difficult when they felt to the point of falling off and running off without me. I was trying my best to be faster than I Was last week. He said the constant practicing would help us to be faster so we all would beat the other team at the next meet.

"Come on slow poke, you really aren't gonna let me beat you this time? Are you?" I looked to my side as Jessica grinned at me. She breathed deeply as she ran along side by me, ever so slightly getting faster and faster. At that moment I felt a rush of energy, grinning at her teasing tone. I wasn't going to let her beat me this time. I wasn't going to get a slower time than last time. "Of course not." I replied cheekily as I bolted away from her. Finally passing the finish line within ten seconds of saying that. I looked back to see a laugh filling her chest as she ran to catch up with me. Finishing the next ten seconds after I did. "See I told you, you weren't that tired." She said in between gasping breaths. "It just took a little motivation is all. Just a little motivation to make you move faster." She laughed again, amused at how I had reacted.

"Psh, I always finish before you and you know it."I swatted her back playfully as she jogged away to grab her water bottle. As she ran off, the smile almost dropped off my face as there was nobody looking at me too see how I was feeling right now. In fact, I was almost overwhelmed with what was happening at home. Mother had come home last night very upset. She had lost a big amount of cash. The amount was something she wouldn't share with me. Yet, she was almost delusional about it as she believed she could earn it all back again today. She seriously had a big misunderstanding of how money worked. She was even considering placing a bet on a game. She wanted to place a bet bigger than how much we owned on a team because she was so positive they would come out on top. When I tried to talk her out of it, it was pointless. We were going to lose everything within the next few days and I was scared, I was terrified.

"Hey, hey." Jessica tapped my shoulder, getting my attention. "I'm taking people home. You need a ride?"

I nodded gratefully. At least somebody was trying to help me, even if it didn't relate to the issue."

Brandy's POV

"Pst." I heard a small sound leading me away from slumber. "Pssssst." It was louder, more urgent this time. I looked up to see Conner and Gloria standing by the side of my bed, glancing at me curiously. "What's wrong?" Conner asked, he seemed to be concerned despite the fact earlier he mentioned not being able to feel anything. Something of which made me jealous.

I groaned, slightly annoyed at being woken. "I'm sick and I'm trying to get better." My voice crackled as I explained myself. Both of them seemed excited that I was here right now.

"Oh." Gloria said in surprise. "I thought maybe you would want to do something else to get better." This caught my curiosity, I thought sleep was the only way to get better as It was something I always did while sick. Mother said sleep had healing properties and it would help me get better faster rather than sitting in bed all day awake and miserable. I lifted an eyebrow at her, asking for an explanation. "We all thought that maybe you would want to come and play hide and seek with us." Gloria answered in explanation. I groaned again at her words, it hurt to move.

"I wish I could, but my body is so sore. And my mom said I would get better if I slept it off." I shifted positions slightly, feeling my back ache in complaint. Gloria pouted at me, disappointed that I didn't want to get up. I did, but I was so determined to get better so I could dance tomorrow. She glanced at Conner, whispering something into his ear. He nodded in agreement. "What if I told you she was wrong?" Conner said out loud.

At that point, allI could do was stare in shock. "B...but she's never wrong?" I answered, my voice almost questioning what I had said. I was suddenly very unsure of myself. "Really? Your mother is the one who is getting sick, and she sleeps every night after getting home, without waking a second." He leaned closer to me, as if it was a secret. "And we all know sometimes she sleeps in past the alarm. Yet, she looks terrible." Conner's explanation seemed more logical than mother's he actually had facts backing him up.

I sighed as I slipped my legs to the side of the bed. "I guess I can play for a little bit. If you say so."

"We promise! Gloria said excitedly. "If you play with us, you will feel better so fast. Faster than if you slept!"

"Come on quick! Cinthia is seeking first!" Conner exclaimed.

With his words, Cinthia appeared by my side, along with Andy. "Aww, come on that's not fair." She complained, only to quickly get over it. "Everyone hide!" She covered her eyes. "One, two, three, four, five, six." I ran off, not hearing the rest of her counting as I tried to think about a great hiding spot. I opened one door to see Andy, he giggled as he pulled it closed while whispering. "Sorry, already occupied." I ran, hearing foot steps approaching my way. Quickly, I slipped into the town closet, pulling myself up onto a shelf as I pushed some towels in front for better coverage.

I could hear whispering and sounds of surprise as Cinthia began to find the other kids. It was about five minutes in when she found me. Laughing as Andy and Gloria stood by her side. "Now, we've got to find Conner!" Cinthia exclaimed joyfully. "He's got to be here somewhere."

"Probably somewhere hard." Gloria said with a frown. "You better not be cheating!" She yelled out loud. "You know which spots are out of bounds." At her words, we all heard a snicker and like instinct. Cinthia yanked the vent covering off to see Conner sitting inside. He hopped out yelling. "My turn." And like that everyone bolted as he began counting. We went like that, over and over again for a few more rounds. I had forgotten I was sick, it was so much fun to play this game, especially since my family didn't do any sort of family time like this.

On a round that I had lost count, I was the one searching. I was looking corner by corner, trying to find where they had hidden this time. I paused as I could feel somebody behind me, it was almost unnerving to feel being followed. I thought it was probably Andy playing a joke. I whirled around quickly only to feel my stomach drop as I looked at a dark figure watching me from the entryway of the kitchen. I was frozen as I stared at him, almost certain that maybe he was a monster going to hurt me very badly, at least, it felt that way. He was wearing a suit, very pitch black which went along well with his drooping black hair and grey ashy skin. His mouth, or the spot where it was supposed to be appeared to be sealed shut. I jumped at Cinthia grabbing my hand, staring at him with the same uneasiness as all the other kids appeared around me. Her words suggested otherwise from her expression. "Don't worry, that's Mr. Boogie. He won't hurt you, I promise."

"Are you sure?" To me, his presence felt almost menacing, it really was unsettling.

"Yes, we are. The only reason he would is if you did something to displease him and all you have done is things he likes. He just likes to watch, I promise. In fact, he will make sure you get done what you need to get done." Gloria added. I looked at her curiously as she said that. "What do you mean?" Was he going to help me do well while I was dancing? If he was, then I would be grateful. "You'll see."

The front door opened, Carly walking in as she waved at somebody outside before closing the door. I looked around to see all the kids and Mr. Boogie had disappeared, they didn't want anyone else to see them which I understood.

Carly looked at me, confused to see I was up and about. "Brandy? I thought you weren't feeling well?"

I looked around again, feeling warmth flood my body as I smiled at her. "Actually I feel a lot better right now."

* * *

Thank you for all the support guys! I'm sorry for the long wait, I just started my job this week and there was a lot of paper work I had to fill out. I also had a big project due that needed work done. Good news though, it was finished so I had time today to work on this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed this one. Any guesses for what will happen next?

-Taliyatwo


	7. Chapter 7

Normal POV

"Mommy, please stop." Brandy said softly as she pulled the bottle from her mother's hands. "Carly said that wasn't good for the baby." She patted her mother's round belly gently. It was a precious thing to her, it was for her mother too. She just forgot sometimes. Her eyes, studied the roundness as she felt bad for the child, it didn't deserve this at all. If anything, the child was more innocent than she had ever been. The videos had changed that, she was confused about what she was doing.

"I want the baby to be happy when it comes out." Brandy whispered, putting a stress on the word happy as it was her favorite word. She hummed softly as her hand moved in circles, it was a way for her to comfort.

She froze, in a way that seemed deliberate, but wasn't as an image filled her head for a second. She could see a hand, stabbing her mother's round belly with an object she couldn't make out. Her face was full of horror as she looked back up at her mother, trying to figure out why that image came to her.

Her mother, luckily was not drunk at the moment. Just slightly buzzed which kept enough room for emotional thought. "Brandy honey you okay? You look like something spooked you." She said, with a voice that could speak to an injured animal. She still had a motherly instinct and knew when something was wrong. Brandy looked at her face, studying it as she slowly leaned forward into a hug. Resting her soft cheek against her mother's shoulder as she considered if talking about what she saw was a good idea or not. Looking forward at the hallway she spotted Cinthia and Conner, standing together calmly as they shook their heads. Cinthia placed one finger to her lips to let Brandy know it was supposed to be a secret. Brandy shivered as she felt a chill run down her back. A deep breath filled her lungs as she tried to shake off what she was feeling. Looking back, the two kids we gone just as they had appeared. Like a wisp of wind.

She looked at her mother, very hesitant as she nodded to say she was okay. She couldn't find the strength to open her mouth and say anything. After all, Cinthia and Conner were her friends. They wouldn't let her do anything bad. And they wouldn't hurt her family at all because they cared about her. Her mother frowned as she patted her daughter's head . "Don't worry, the baby is going to be just fine."

Brandy lightly pressed an ear against her stomach. "So, did you figure out if it was a boy or girl yet?" She spoke in almost a whisper as she was slightly disoriented.

"No." Her mother answered with a voice just as quiet. "But I'm sure we will know soon." Brandy smiled at her words, looking back up at her face. A tear slipped out of the corner of her left eyes as she did that motion. She was perplexed at it as her finger wiped the drop off her cheek, she had no idea why it was there. "I'm fine." She said quickly before her mother could say anything. Coming to her small feet within seconds, she backed up rapidly to the door. "I'm okay, I'll be okay." Her toes gripped the floor as she ran out before her mother could say anything.

Donna watched her daughter leave, concern filling her chest at the girl's strange behavior. This wasn't who Brandy was, yet it was all she did lately. Gripping the bottle she had slipped out from her daughter's hand while she was distracted. A shuddering breath filled her chest as she stared at the direction her girl fled to. Quickly, she pulled the bottle to her lips to have the warm liquid dull the emotions she felt.

Brandy slipped into the tight space of her cracked door. Sealing it shut as she looked seriously at all the other children sitting on her bed. "Be honest, what's happening to me?"

"I already told you, you need to finish watching the movies. There's just one more left and trust me, Jamie really wants you too see it. He's been waiting so long." Gloria said, the tone of her voice was almost whiny as she spoke. It was something that made Brandy feel very scared. "That's not the reason you want me to watch it." She moved closely to Gloria, gripping her apron as she looked seriously at her. "Why do you want me to watch it?"

Deliberately, Gloria yanked herself away, giving Brandy a mischievous look . "Mr. Boogie wants you to watch it. I'm sure you can feel it too." Brandy shook her head to deny it, she couldn't describe what she was feeling and honestly, it was something she didn't want to know. "But why?" She asked more softly.

"Trust me, you'll know when it's time. You'll know." Gloria leaned closely to her ear, the mischief glimmered in her eye as she disappeared with the rest of the children.

Carly's POV

"Let's figure out what the hell this is." I whispered to myself as I set down the box again. As much as I tried to l forget about that one film, it was disturbing and I wanted to know why somebody would make a film like that. It didn't seem right, yet they did it anyway. I was going to investigate this mess and put it to rest.

Quickly the projector was set in place for watching. Watching these films seemed like the best idea as it was the only thing I had. I pulled out the first film that caught my eye. The title. "Family vacation." Seemed innocent enough, yet in this context it was disturbing. I didn't know what I was going to see on this film.

My hands were slightly shaky as I set it up, I was beginning to regret my decision because something so evil like this always had consequences. Without a doubt, these things always ended that way. Maybe, I could prevent that.

I swallowed nervously as I turned the film on, wrapping a blanket around myself as the image flashed onto my pinned up bed sheet. The clicking of the projector was unnerving as the camera zoomed into a family in a roomy car. They were singing a tune, it was a shame I couldn't hear it. What ever it was though, they seemed to be having a really fun time. It made me wish I was there along with them as they had their family time. I could see a little toddler in a car seat along with her older brothers. The two boys had pulled out an old game system. I think they were called game boy colors? My family had never been interested in video games. One of the boys yelled angrily at the other, yanking the game from his brother as he glared. The mother flipped around from the front seat, scolding her boys as she took the game away. The camera flipped around to the camera man, revealing a boy who was probably younger than the other two. His dark hair was a messy nest on his head as he looked at the lens with bored eyes. He began to say something to the camera I couldn't hear, what ever it was, it sure looked like complaining.

The camera whirled around as the car came to a stop. Quickly the kids hopped out of the car. The young boy filming followed slowly behind, focusing the camera on the house they were going to. I stared intensely as I recognized that house as our own. It was exactly where we were living which made this that much worse.

As the scene changed. The camera was back in the car. The lens moved around to the back of the car. Pressing up against the back window to show what was there. Clearly, I could see members of the family, slowly coming back to consciousness as they tried to figure out where they were. They all had looks of panic as they realized their ankles were tied together and attached to the back of the car. The father sat up quickly, trying to untie himself from the car, but the knot on his ankle seemed to be too complicated. Suddenly, the screen on the camera began to vibrate. All I could assume was that somebody had started the car. The man opened up his mouth as he was suddenly yanked forward as the car began to move. Each family member flailed their arms as the car began to speed faster and dragged them. The rough ground ripped into their clothing and skin. Creating very deep wounds, very bad road rash. It came to the point where the bodies stopped fighting, their tense hands now completely relaxed as they were pulled along. Finally, after five minutes the car came to a stop. The camera man proceeded to pull the camera from its spot than take it outside.

In a walking pace it came up to the family members. Each had horrific wounds on their skin. They were all torn into so badly by the ground.

It came to a stop on the father. I thought he looked the worse. The skin on his face was hallway torn off. His bottom lip was hanging down, completely revealing his lower jaw. It pulled back as the camera man studied his fully body. His whole shirt was completely gone. It looked back at his face. Slowly, I watched as his mouth opened in pain. Then the camera turned off.

I switched off the projector, closing my mouth with determination as I quickly pulled out my laptop. Typing quickly I searched for information. After all, this was our house. I wondered why the realtor never told us about the death that occurred here. Within seconds I had found her number, it wasn't that hard to do.

I hesitated before hitting the call button on my phone. I didn't know if I wanted these details, but there was danger here and I couldn't ignore it.

"Hello?" A nasally voice answered on the other side, she appeared annoyed that anyone was calling her.

"Hi, I'm this is Carly Richards I had some questions about the house my mom recently bought. I noticed you didn't include any information about the previous owners?"

There was hesitation on the other line. "Yes, I didn't include it because your mother didn't ask about them."

"Well I was wondering if you could tell me why they moved out?" I knew exactly what she would say. Nobody ever wanted to talk about murder. "I'm sorry I don't want to talk about that." She answered nervously.

"I need to know. I'm serious, otherwise I will tell my mother and trust me we will be out of here faster than you can notice." I threatened, besides it was the only way people like this communicated.

"They didn't move out they died." She said slowly. "That house was actually their vacation home."

Now, the title. "Family vacation," made a lot of sense. "Can you describe to me what happened?"

"I'm not allowed to disclose that. All I can say is that it was an accident with their car." As I was about to say more she stopped me. "Now, I can't say anymore. Goodbye." The line crackled as she hung up.

That was okay anyway, I had gotten the information I needed. I pulled out another film to start watching. "Thanksgiving Dinner." It read innocently. I sighed as I pulled out the other reel than set that one in place. "This is going to take some time." And I certainly wasn't going to like it. Watching these things wasn't pleasant at all, but I felt it was the reason why things were suddenly going wrong at home and if I knew how to end this I would.

* * *

Hey guys! Thank you for keeping me going. :) All your support has been really great as I write this story. I wasn't sure about writing this so the fact all you people like it too makes me really happy. See you all next chapter!

-Taliyatwo


	8. Chapter 8

Carly's POV

It was late into the night when I finally finished the last of the films. Blankly, I stared at the white sheet trying to process all the chaos through my head. None of this compared to any of the horror movies I had watched before. Usually I watched horror movies for things like a date and that was meant to be fun. But this, these movies were pure evil. No fun in them at all. Who ever made them wanted the next person watching it to see all the suffering on the family's faces. All I could feel was numbness because it didn't make sense at all? All these titles Family Vacation? Makin' Maple Syrup? Game Night? Thanksgiving Dinner? Rooftop Garden? All very innocent titles and yet they didn't show innocence at all. It made me wonder, what person in their right mind would create these?

The camera man almost took glee in what they were doing.

There were few things I noticed that were very similar in each film. First, each family had consumed something prior to being murder. Something I assumed caused them to be vulnerable so the murderer could take action. Next, there was always one child in the family that ended up missing. The killer took them somehow? Probably even made them watch the whole murder. That made me feel sick. I honestly couldn't believe it.

Finally, in each film you couldn't see the killer at all. I usually got a glimpse of their hands, but it was nothing more which only added to this mystery. Who was killing these people? Was it the same person or different ones? Was it a cult ritual?

Knowing what I knew was terrifying. It made me wonder when this killer would strike next because the time of the kills were very random. Sometimes they were spread apart by a few years and other times they were almost decades apart. The killer seemed to kill when it pleased them which made no sense. Was it even possible to kill for both ritual and pleasure? Did the killer have capabilities to feel that much? Because the videos suggested they probably had no capacity for human empathy.

As the dread began to coat me, I felt hopeless. I didn't know how to stop this let alone find the origin. How could I save people? Reaching my hand mindlessly to the table I snatched my pill container off the surface. It was almost automatic as I placed pressure on the bottle so it would open. These bottles were supposed to be "child proof." Yet, they were easy to open for anyone who could read instruction. The clear words on the lid told anyone exactly how to open it.

As I tipped it out and felt air land on my palm I glanced at it in panic, peeking inside the empty container. I could feel my throat drying in dread as I realized I forgot to refill my medication. I didn't have anything to help control my condition and that only made things worse. I needed them, I needed them so badly. I didn't have the ability to cry at this moment. It wasn't the same emotion as what I was feeling right now. I wanted it to end so badly right now.

Allowing the container to drop out of my hand. I collapsed down onto my bed. All I could see was black above me. Softly materializing, a face appeared above my head. His face a dark ashy grey. The place were his lips were meant to be were sealed. It hit me a second later as terror seemed to seep out from that face into my chest.

I opened my mouth to scream, only to be cut off as his hands seemed to grip my throat, cutting off the air. I was frozen like a statue as the world seemed to spin away. Into the numbness I desired.

Normal POV

Bughuul stared down at the girl as she went limp. Releasing his cold hands from her skin. She was getting too nosey with his business and he didn't like it. That had happened twice before and he took care of the two who investigated too much. This girl wouldn't get far enough anyways. She was in no way mentally well enough for this.

The children all stood behind him. Practically glowering at the girl. They liked coming to this world, especially considering the condition they were in. With Bughuul slowly consuming their souls, they didn't have a lot of time left. Their bodies were practically ready to fall apart. If she messed up anything they would be gone. Bughuul would be furious and punish them for the mistake. Especially since it was their job to prep the next child for the next ritual. They all looked at the door as the nob wiggled. Each running to a hiding spot as they disappear from sight. Bughuul tilted his head, leaning towards the girl with an exhale as the door opened and he vanished. "Carly, Carly!" Brandy yelled in a shrill voice as Matthew and Riley followed along with her.

"Carly!" Her voice was more urgent as she shook her sister trying to wake her up. She nearly released her own scream as Carly sat up drowsily. "Why? Wha... What?" She asked sharply.

"Somethings wrong, there's noise in mom's room." Riley stated quickly. Carly came back to awareness, looking at each of her siblings with concern. Those words were so vague. "I saw a strange man go into her room with her."

With that Carly shot up, ready to go help. She was scared, terrified. What if that "man." Was the thing that choked her only moments ago? If it was. Their mother could end up worse than her. Physically, she was a lot weaker and probably had no chance against this man who was probably much bigger than she could deal with. Even then, was this being an actual man or something else? She practically slid down the hall as she rushed to her mother's door.

As she opened it. Her eyes widened. There was only shock as she realized this was just a random man. Pinning down her own mother and beating her roughly. Her mother stared at her with a pained face, blood running out of her nose as she struggled to get away from this man much bigger than her. "No!" Carly yelled as she rushed at the man to help her mother. All she felt was rage, why was this man doing this? It was all for nothing as the man easily flipped off of her mother and pinned her down. She struggled as his weight on her body made it useless. Grinning, he brought down his fist onto her stomach. Receiving a breathless gasp of pain that signaled Carly's silence.

"Please, that's my daughter. She has nothing to do with this." Donna pleaded. She coughed quietly, looking helpless at her daughter. The man chuckled, seeming to add more weight onto the girl. "She doesn't know does she Donna?"

"Please don't..."

"What? What's the problem with her knowing about your money issues? You owe me and my friends a lot and the longer you make us wait. The more impatient we become. Surely, you daughter would be sufficient enough to pay off this debt." The man spoke almost gleefully. Referring to Carly as if she was an item. "Besides," he stroked Carly's cheek as she glared at him angrily. "She's a very pretty girl."

"Not my daughter, never my daughter. I told you, I can get you the cash in a few weeks. I'll have the sufficient amount of funds to pay you then." At this point Donna was speaking carefully, trying not to strike a nerve on this man.

He rolled his eyes dramatically. "That's what you said two weeks ago and you came up with nothing."

"P..please." Carly whispered quietly as he pressed his elbow sharply into her gut.

At that point, Matthew and Riley watching from the door were practically in tears. They were scared and didn't want anything to happen. They didn't want to lose their older sister.

Brandy, filled herself with every drop of bravery she had. Approached the man cautiously. "Please sir, that's my sister. I need her." There was a noticeable shaking in her body as she held back the instinct to run away. The man mostly ignored her as to him, she was like a helpless little bug who could do nothing. "Please, my mommy will pay you back. She promises."

She stood still for a moment, only inches away from him. He continued to ignore her, as if she wasn't there which only added to their suspense. "Please sir, I-" That was all she got in as the man whirled around, slapping his big hand against her soft cheek. The sheer force of it caused her to tumble to the ground, forcing a sharp pain on that side of her face. After that, there was silence as her mother stared at the man in horror. He had just slapped her child, her most fragile one. He had attacked her and two of her children. She wasn't willing to see him hurt her two boys two. Angrily, she pushed herself up as she slipped off her wedding ring. Something so precious and valuable. Yet, at this moment it meant nothing compared to her children. She quickly passed it to him. Telling him she was not willing to see anymore. "Please get out. That should help you for your troubles." Her tone was exhausted, almost defeated. She had tried to get an extension and it didn't work. Now they were in a big mess.

He released Carly, causing her to sigh in relief as air filled her lungs. All she could do was stare forward in shock as the overwhelming emotions of her depression filled her body. She didn't want to move.

Studying the ring, he nodded in approval, grinning from ear to ear at Donna. "I knew it, they said you were holding back. Looks like I got exactly what I came from." He laughed as he brushed off his pants. "Oh and Donna, don't come to another game unless you want trouble like this again."

With a conflicted expression Donna nodded. She didn't want her children to get hurt so, she would just have to find another game to join in on. If they didn't want her surely someone else would be more accepting. And less harsh with the payments. Within the minute he was gone and out of the house. Donna began to tend to her children, helping Carly sit up. She stared at Brandy with concern as she hadn't moved after being slapped. "Honey,it's okay now. He's gone."

But, to Brandy it wasn't okay. It was never going to be okay. At that moment she had hit an epiphany, her family was having a lot of trouble and there was no way to fix it at all. It was just going to get worse from there. She didn't want that.

Donna bent down to look at her daughter's face. Seeing this indescribable rage mixed with the startling purple bruising on her face. Then, like that, it completely dropped as her expression became blank. It was so unusual when Brandy stood up silently without any acknowledgement as she headed towards the door. Her brothers, wordlessly moved out of her way, staring at her with their own shock. They had never seen this side of her either. She looked back at her mom for a second with a cold expression before moving at a frighteningly calm pace to Carly's room. She stepped in then locked the door behind herself.

She whistled a familiar tune to herself. Musing as she tried to decide what to do. Then she whirled around, flickering her eyes back and forth at the ghost children, a small smile appeared on the corner of her lip. "It's time, I'm ready to watch the last one."

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Next chapter guys! In excited about this one because it's almost the end of this story. Not quite yet though. Any guesses for what is going on with Brandy? Where do you guys think this is leading? Anyways! See you next chapter.

-Taliyatwo


	9. Chapter 9

Normal POV

"You know what to do." Gloria said, standing closely next to Brandy as they watched Donna sleep. The two children seemed to have synchronized movement as they looked at each other. Brandy nodded slowly with a smile reaching her lips as she ran to her mother's bed. Giving it one small bounce before tapping her mother's shoulder. "Mommy, are we still going to your work thingy today?"

"Hmmm?" Her mother replied in a sleepy tone. Slightly shifting to face her daughter. It took all her strength to not cringe as she saw the brown bruising on her cheek. "You know, the thing where you take me to work with you?"

"I.. I thought maybe you didn't want to go because of yesterday." Her mother was hesitant as she spoke, studying every motion of her daughter to suggest as she was thinking. "Of course I want to go silly." Brandy giggled quietly looking at her mother as if getting hit yesterday wasn't a big deal. "Besides, I really want that ice cream you promised."

Sitting up with a surprised expression she tried to find if her emotions were genuine. "Okay, if you want to. I just have to cover up the little cuts on my face." She replied, giving in to her daughter's desire. She would do anything she could to make her family feel comfortable again where they were. Quietly, Brandy moved closer to her mother. Reaching out a finger to poke the deeper one on her nose, making contact with no refusal. She was interested in the feel. Suddenly beginning to push harder without much thought until her mother cried out in surprise. "Ow, ow. Honey please don't. I can't have you picking at this or it won't heal."

"Oh." Brandy quietly whispered in response. Her eyes were filled with innocence as she stared at her mother. "I'm sorry." As she thought about it though, she didn't really feel any need to apologize. Besides, the cut wasn't her fault.

Her mother nodded. "It's fine, just be careful okay. I know you didn't mean it." Ruffling the girl's hair playfully, she forced her mouth to give an even wider smile. "Now, how about I get ready and you go eat breakfast okay? You can have the sugary cereal I normally let you have on weekends." At that Brandy perked up with a nod. She bolted towards the kitchen to have her sweet breakfast.

"How did it go?" Gloria asked as Brandy poured the cereal into a bowl. Quietly, Brandy finished filling up what she needed then moved to her fridge to grab milk. She looked back at the other children nonchalantly, completely accepting. "Perfect, everything is going according to plan. I will be able to do it tomorrow."

Brandy's POV

I loved them so much, how could I not? They were people constantly by my side, never-failing to show up when needed. I wanted that to continue, but with where we were going in this life, it didn't seem possible. My mother and sister were both depressed, they thought I didn't know it. But, I wasn't stupid. I just downplayed my knowledge when speaking to them. Anyway for them to feel comfort. It was mainly their personalities that told it to me. People's personalities are always plain out in the open. No matter how hard you try, you can't hide it. Someone will always see it and expose you for who you are.

I always observed everything, you see people never pay attention to the quiet ones because we rarely say anything. But, the thing about being quiet is you notice every little change that happens. No matter how small it is, you can see it. I was delusional thinking my family would go back to normal. Things went downhill as soon as dad died. It was a car crash, the doctors said he died instantly so there was no suffering. But, everyday our family suffered dearly for it. Everyday everyone was slowly diverting into their selfish default settings.

"Brandy, honey what are you looking at?" My mother asked as she finished filling out paper work. I had been staring into the open air, lost in my thoughts. "Nothing." I piped up quietly. Of course she didn't take that into thought at all.

"Okay, I'm gonna go turn this in to the files. Stay right here I'll be back okay, then you can see some more interesting things. I promise." My mother tried to explain her words in an exciting tone. She was trying even though it was hopeless. I nodded as she left me alone at the desk. Silently placing my feet on the floor, I moved to the hallway. Intent on taking some souvenir with me. "Come on." Gloria said as she and Cinthia appeared by my side. "We found the perfect thing. It's awesome." She giggled, her voice bouncing down the hall as she ushered me towards a certain room.

I felt no hesitation as I entered the room. From a quick observation it was sterile, a clean environment for what it held. The syringes we tightly packed, each container labeled for what they did. They words were ones I didn't understand, but so many options. I was normally scared of needles. My mom got us flu shots every year and usually did them herself. Honestly, the prick was the worst part.

Yet, at this moment, none of that mattered. I wasn't scared of a little needle. In fact, I was fascinated with what it held. Cinthia pointed towards a specific container. "Take one, they'll never notice."

"Are you sure? I don't want to get caught." I asked in my careful voice, if it was to be done, it had to be perfect.

"Yes, they are perfectly clueless." At her words. I snatched one out, tapping the safety tip that covered the needle. I stuffed it into my jacket pocket then stepped out into the hallway to see my mother's completely panicked face as she rushed over. Embracing me tightly. "Please don't do that." She reached over pulling the door tightly shut. "That room was supposed to be locked, I'm not sure how you got in."

I pouted as she spoke, showing confusion in my eyes as she talked about how I wasn't supposed to go into the room. "I'm sorry mommy, I just wanted to see what there was. I didn't touch anything, I swear."

She let out a shuddering breath, looking at me with a slightly relieved expression. "It's okay, I'm over reacting. How about we go look at my things? Hmm?"

I smiled. "Okay." With that, she lead me down to another room. I placed my hand on the pocket, feeling the outline of the needle.

Carly's POV

I leaned against the cart with a sour expression on my face. I didn't want to be here, but mom insisted on a family shopping trip. All of us were here. But, each person was doing their own thing. My mother was strolling down the aisles, checking off items on her list as she found them.

Matthew and Riley were playing around the toy aisle. They argued over a bat with a shiny gleam to it. Each wanted it as much as the other. Especially since it was the last one.

Brandy was practicing her dance routine. Her recital was in a week and it was all she could think about. It was all she wanted to do.

I watched her pulled out a bottle of lemonade then skip over to my mother. Instantly receiving a nod of approval. She gave me a one second glance as she placed it in the cart, then moved back to doing her own thing.

My stomach still hurt from when that man was at our house. But, nothing compared to the dull ache I felt. The dread, and the overwhelming sense of wanting things to end. I needed more medication, but with the situation. My mother couldn't afford it. She didn't even have the heart to tell Brandy she couldn't afford her school either.

I looked towards the fruit aisle, noticing a teenage boy watching me. His shaggy brown hair and thin tall figure suggested to me he had to be at least 15 to 16 years old. As he noticed I saw him, a red color spread across his cheeks in embarrassment. Nervously he smiled as he shuffled away slowly. I snorted, it was amusing the gesture he was giving me. Then, changing his mind he approached me. "A... Are you shopping by yourself?" He asked quietly, the tone of his voice almost reminded me of Brandy. A quiet and sweet personality.

"No, I'm out with my family." I replied with an obligatory smile. The way he moved, he was almost folding into himself, it had me very intrigued. "If I had a choice I probably wouldn't have come." I said to make more conversation.

"No no me too. My mom had me come because she doesn't like to leave me alone. You think she would be comfortable since I'm 16, but I guess I can kind of understand in a way. " he replied in a vague way to make a connection with me. I let out a laugh at his words, feeling the smile become more real. I nodded in agreement, both our parents had reasons for bringing us shopping. My mother was really concerned with my depression so she didn't want me alone. And she wanted our family to have some bonding time.

"I'm Carly, and you are?" I held out my hand for him to shake. He seemed pleasantly surprised as he opened his mouth to reply. But, he didn't get too far as Brandy rushed towards me with excitement. "Carly! Carly! Mom said we could get cookies. Do you want the milk chocolate ones or the white chocolate ones?" In a quick movement she was in front of me, wrapping her arms around my torso. The boy seemed to have a random shiver run up his back. It seemed to be familiar to him as he glanced uncomfortably at my sister. "I'm good with the milk chocolate." I replied more loosely. Brandy didn't reply, looking at the boy who was talking to me. His face seemed to morph into a horrified one, but so small most wouldn't notice it. "Okay, thanks!" Brandy pulled away, running to my mom to tell her.

"Anyways, what is your name?" I asked, deciding to ignore his weird facial expressions.

He seemed to shake it off as he looked at me with a serious expression. "That's not important, I have to tell you something that is very urgent."

I folded my arms, looking at him with a lifted brow. "Urgent, really?"

He reached out, gripping both of my arms as he moved me closer. "Listen I'm serious when I say this. Your family is in danger. Something bad is going to happen if you don't stop it. You need to burn your house down or something like that. And..." His voice was hesitant as he spoke. "I wouldn't trust your sister."

"What?" I said, blinking my eyes rapidly. His words were strange, but in a way I understood them. After watching those films I couldn't shake off the feeling something bad was going to happen. "Please, just please listen to me." He whispered desperately. A voice sounded, bringing him to attention. "I have to go."

"No wait, I don't understand." I said to him as he began to pull away. He moved more urgently to the one calling him. "Wait!"

"Dylan, come on it's time to go." I watched as a woman with a southern accent turned the corner with her cart. Ushering the boy to follow her. He looked back at me one last time. "Just remember what I said. Please remember it." He began to walk away with the women, helping her push the cart as they moved to check out. I watched him all the way until he disappeared from my line of sight.

"Carly, mom says she got everything." Matthew said, beaming at me as he held the bat, well I guess I know who won that argument. I nodded, following him so I could go home.

* * *

Hey guys! Just letting you know there is one more chapter after this. Thank you for staying with me as long as you all have. I really appreciate it! As we come to the last chapter can I get any predictions? What do you guys think will happen here! Until next time.

-Taliyatwo


	10. Chapter 10

Carly's POV

I guess I should have expected this. With how life was going there was always a mystery to how my mother afforded the house. The truth was she didn't. She could no longer pay for it, and because of that we had to go back to the old one. A house full of bad memories we tried to leave behind and now here we were, creating new ones in a house meant to be a restart on our lives.

Physically, Matthew and Riley were the most upset. I could still hear occasional sniffles coming from the back seat. They had just become part of a little league baseball team in the area. Something that held so much excitement for them. And, now that we were going back. That would never happen.

Me and my mother were on the same level about the situation. All I could feel was disappointment. She promised this would never happen and it happened because of her carelessness. At this point, I didn't care anymore because the truth hurt too much.

Brandy, I didn't understand. It was different than what I expected as there was no protest from her. She only seemed to accept this was happening. When we left the house she said to me. "There's nothing we can do. I see no point in being upset." It didn't make any sense to me because she loved the school she went to so much and now she didn't give it so much as a wave goodbye.

It made me think back to what Dylan said to me. To not trust Brandy, it was hard to believe that. Especially since she was such a innocent girl. She barely understood how the world worked. And she wasn't capable of causing harm. She would never do it if given the choice because she always saw peaceful alternatives. All Brandy wanted was for us to be happy. She was always doing things to brighten our day.

"You okay?" I asked Brandy as calmly as I could.

"Yeah, I'm kind of excited to see my old room you know?" Brandy spoke softly, her voice genuine yet mysterious. "It still had my ballet barres up and I really like them." She constantly practiced dance all day so I could understand her obsession with that. I nodded as the house came into view from the window. "Maybe, this is what it's meant to be." Brandy said as her eyes studied the familiar curve of the door. "I mean, fate choses things for you, doesn't it?" I swallowed dry air, unable to say much more about it. The car came to a smooth stop and there was silence for a few minutes. Mom finally looked back, speaking in a grownup voice. "I know it's not much, but trust me. The moving vans will bring everything else within the next few days. It will get better."

Normal POV

Brandy carried the iPod stereo, placing it carefully on the metal chair she had placed against the wall. Her eyes studied the room, the four plastic chairs set up across the wall as seating for the audience. The perfect reflection of the mirror as it gleamed from her wiping it down. The small table of chocolate chip cookies and lemonade as refreshments. Her fingers daintily stroked the hand written invitations she had created for everyone. Since they couldn't see her perform at her school dance recital, a homemade recital would have to do.

She moved to a mirror to make sure her costume was perfect. Her fingers lightly pulled on the tutu, making sure it was sticking out stiffly as it should. She patted the beaded design of her bodice then looked closely to make sure none of her hairs were flying away from the tightly wound bun on her head. She then fiddled with the small tiara on her head until it was centered in place. Her eyes wandered down to her feet. Seeing the pointe shoes shining brightly along with her ribbons tucked into place. Smiling, she nodded at her reflection. Skipping away to hand out her invitations for the recital. Placed by her old bed which was pushed away for more room was the 8 mm camera. Propped up with a few pillows as it was set in place. Gloria, stood next to it. Adjusting the position as she waited for the show to start.

Within a few minutes, the whole family followed Brandy into her room. Carly looked exhausted as she trudged along slowly. She liked the kindness of Brandy's gesture, but she didn't really feel in the mood to be doing anything. All she wanted to do was sleep. Brandy curtsied to her family as she thanked them for coming to her show. "I thought that maybe a little dance show would be fun for you guys. I know things have been rough and I just want you all to be happy." She grinned, showing all her bright teeth. She walked over to refreshment. Passing a cookie to each person. Carly smiled at her sister sadly as she came up to her. "Thanks, but I'm not feeling all too hungry right now."

Nodding, she moved on to the lemonade. Making sure each person had one in their hands. Carly accepted it, then placed the cup right next to her chair. Brandy seemed to be filling with excitement as she handed the remote to her mother. "Press play when I tell you to." Her feet seemed to glide along the floor as she moved to her bed. She bent down to press something then stood up, posing in place. "Okay, ready." At her words, a soft classical tune played. The beats were in a waltz time as it started to pick up. Brandy slowly moved her arms along with her leg. Pointing her toe in front of herself as she pressed her weight onto that one leg. Effortlessly, her back leg lifted up into a 75 degree angle, giving her no trouble as she held it in place. Then she bent her standing leg, using that effort to go up onto pointe. All of it seemed to come naturally to her body as she moved along carelessly.

Her face was one full of grace, showing no sign of discomfort from what she did. Her head tilted along with her body as it was fit. She did a few more movements then came to a prepping position, her body posed in utter concentration. Then, she pushed up onto on leg. Twirling in a dizzying way, her right leg moved from the front, to the side, then to a bent position helping her continue to move. She stayed in a balance that it seemed impossible for her to fall down.

Riley looked towards his mom, his expression having become an unfocused one as he spoke to her. "Mommy, I don't feel so well." His expression was that of exhaustion. He seemed too confused to cry . Brandy continued to dance, not taking time to notice her brother. His eyes seemed to droop as the cup slipped from his hand and he fell asleep.

Donna blinked her eyes, feeling the same exhaustion too as her body began to shut down. She tried to help up Matthew who was beginning to fall asleep. Only to collapse to the floor as white foam leaked from her mouth. Within seconds, Matthew collapsed onto his mother

Carly came to her feet with a horrified expression as her foot knocked over the cup placed by her chair. By that point, Brandy had stopped dancing too. Staring at her sister with a terrified expression. "What's happening?" Her voice trembled as she seemed to be struggling to stay calm.

"Come on, we have to get out of here." Carly spoke rapidly as she realized the person who made the films was trying to kill her family now.

Brandy shook her head as she spoke. "No, what about them, we can't just leave them." She seemed to be more concerned with the others rather than her own safety. "We can call the police, what we have to do is leave right now. Come on." Carly held out her hand for her sister ushering for the little girl to hold it. Brandy seemed to give it, moving over to grab her sister's hand. Carly looked back, to make sure everything was safe, her eyes pausing as she spotted the 8mm camera running. Everything on her began to scream as Dylan's words played in her head again. "I wouldn't trust your sister." It was all beginning to make sense now, and she didn't know why she didn't put it together before this. It was the kids doing it, besides, nobody ever suspects the kids. As she pulled her hand away from Brandy she felt a sharp prick in her arm. She looked at Brandy in horror as she pulled the empty syringe from the area. Betrayal was in her eyes as Brandy's expression seemed to become completely calm. "I'm not stupid." Brandy uttered in a chilling tone. "They told me you knew about the movies."

Carly slowly slid to the group as she felt consciousness slip out of reach. Brandy bent down to look at her one more time. "I'll make all the pain go away." At her words Carly groaned as she went completely limp.

Carly's POV

As I began to wake up, I felt sharp pain in my mouth. As if I had just chewed on glass. I opened my mouth to a familiar metallic tang as a hard piece seemed to slip out. I slowly trailed my head down to see it was a piece of mirror. All points poking out. Looking side to side, my wrists were pulled up and tied to Brandy's ballet bar. My ankles were tied together, completely immobilizing me from much movement. Brandy's mirrors were completely shattered, the pieces decorating the floor around us.

In front of me was a strange symbol painted on the floor. It wasn't familiar besides the fact, what was used to paint it was a familiar liquid. I looked over to the right to see Matthew and Riley tied right next to me. Their bodies completely limp and it was clear they were gone. Shards of the mirror seemed to be embedded into almost every part of their bodies possible. Red still dripped from the fresh wounds as Riley's head hung in my direction, the look of complete terror forever frozen on his face as blood dripped from his mouth and neck.

"No." I tearfully whispered. I grunted with effort as I tried to free myself from my bindings, but my body was still weak from what Brandy used to knock me out. I heard a scream from mother forcing my head to turn to the other direction. She was tied in the same position. Brandy stood in front of her, not having bothered to change out of her dance costume as it was now stained with blood. She held the camera in one hand. Using the other to pick up pieces of the mirror off the ground and then stab them into mother's body. She picked up another, seeming to rub her hand gently on my mother's round belly. Speaking soothingly to the baby. "Don't worry you won't have to suffer anything. I'm sending you somewhere far away." She then roughing stabbed the piece onto my mother's belly, receiving another cry of pain. Rapidly, she stabbed more and more pieces, heavily concentrating them on the belly as my mother sobbed. Then, she picked up the final piece, harshly shoving into into mother's throat. There was gurgling for a few seconds, then mother went silent.

Brandy nodded in approval then walked over to me. "No! No!" I screamed even though it pained my mouth as I spoke. "Please don't do this. Please." Brandy looked at me remorselessly as her hand scooped a shard off the ground. I looked forward to see a dark figure watching her earnestly. The same one who had knocked me out after watching the films. Pain radiated from my arm as she started stabbing pieces of the mirror into it. She moved quickly, repeating the motion over and over again all over my body. I could feel my head beginning to spin from the blood loss. "Please." I whispered to her again as she continued to do it. "Brandy please, I love you."

She didn't hesitate at my words, they seemed to stir nothing in her at all. As the last piece of glass pierced my throat, I gasped for breath struggling to hold onto the last bit of life. I didn't want to die yet, there was too much left to do. It wasn't fair.

As I began to think about the last few week I could feel my depressive thoughts taking over. Making this seem like the greatest kindness I had received. Then I accepted my fate. I slowly slipped into the darkness. Grateful that I wouldn't feel this ever again.

Epilogue: 

Brandy's POV

It had been a few years since I completely Mr. Boogie's ritual and killed my family. Doing it had been easy as I began to feel nothing. Now, all I do is feel nothing. No guilt, no pain. I didn't even seem to mind my family was gone. Why should I when I have all the other children to play with? They were all great fun and accepted me completely. Sadly, Connor was beginning to dwindle. It wouldn't be long until he completely disappeared. All the other children mentioned there having been countless of other children who played with them. That was the thing, since Mr. Boogie ate our souls we slowly began to disappear. While it was an uncomfortable experience, it never hurt. That was why the ritual had to continue. As long as we did it, we were allowed to play in the human world. It was fun and a much easier place to move in.

"Are you ready to do this?" Gloria asked as I stared out the window at the moving vans. Waiting the few years for a new occupant in the house had prepared me completely for the next child to join us. I nodded confidently as I moved to my old room. The realtor had completely cleaned it out to remove all the traces of me she could. The only thing she couldn't pull out was a section of mirror I left completely unharmed. Still sparkling as brightly as the day I had cleaned it.

Nobody knew it was me who had killed my family. As far as they were concerned, I was missing and would never be found. The murder of the Richards family confounded everyone. It was a mystery that terrified people and nobody seemed to want to investigate it. Even the police gave up within a few weeks of getting nowhere.

I looked at the boy who seemed to be hanging up colored belts on the wall. They looked to be level up belts for karate. Something I didn't see a lot of when I was still alive. I think there was a studio open somewhere down the street. A man taught it at his house, or something like that. He had a frustrated expression on his face as he moved around. He was probably very upset about moving, most kids would be.

As he stepped in front of the mirror looking at himself, I let myself finally be seen. Standing directly behind him which seemed to startle him as I spoke. "You know, this was my favorite spot." I said, reminiscing of the time before this. He whirled around, staring wide eyed at me as his eyes studied my tutu. "Hi I'm Brandy, what's your name." I held out my hand for him to shake it."

"G-Greg." He stuttered as he shook my hand in response.

"Well Greg." I felt a smile slide onto my face as I spoke. "We are going to have so much fun."

* * *

Thank you so much for all the support guys! It has been really helpful with me writing this story. Thank you for encouraging me to continue and especially for getting on me when I haven't updated. :) I really enjoyed writing this story and hope to write more in the future when I have time. Hope to see you guys again.

-Taliyatwo


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